Ưu Đàm Chay

An old villa, set back from the street behind a garden of trees and climbing plants, has been turned into a vegetarian restaurant. The design team kept its tiled roofs, green shutters and the worn stair at the entrance, so the house still reads as part of the neighbourhood it grew up in.

Inside, the rooms are opened up and washed in a single deep red. Thick walls are cut into a sequence of arches, and the eye moves through them from one dining room to the next, so the plan feels longer and more layered than the footprint suggests.

Small arched windows and niches hold stone and wooden statues, carved panels and single branches, turning parts of the restaurant into something close to a gallery. Light is kept low and warm, falling on the objects rather than the tables.

Where old brick shows through the plaster, it is left exposed, and the courtyards bring planting right up to the glass. The renovation gives the villa a new public life while letting its age remain visible.